The present invention relates to catheter assemblies, and more particularly to devices for placement of catheters.
A various assortment of catheters, such as urinary or Foley catheters, have been proposed for use on patients. In the case of Foley catheters, a distal end of the catheter shaft is inserted into the patient's urethra during placement, and the shaft is passed through the urethra until a ballon adjacent a distal end of the shaft is located in the bladder with a proximal end of the catheter located outside the patient's body. The balloon is then inflated in the bladder in order to retain the catheter in place, and during catheterization urine drains from the bladder through a drainage lumen in the catheter and through a drainage tube connected to the catheter into a drainage bag for collection therein.
Of course, it is necessary that the catheter should be placed in the patient without contamination of the catheter shaft, otherwise bacteria may be introduced into the bladder by the catheter with possible deleterious results to the patient. Additionally, it is desirable to lubricate the catheter shaft in order to facilitate passage of the shaft through the urethra. It is apparent that handling of the catheter during lubrication and placement significantly increases the likelihood that the cathether shaft may become contaminated, even handled through use of sterile gloves, since the gloves may become contaminated by inadvertent contact against the patient or other nonsterile object resulting in contamination of the catheter shaft when subsequently touched by the nonsterile gloves. In addition, it is desirable to eliminate the inconvenience caused by the physician by unnecessary placement of gloves and by the careful handling of the catheter required to prevent contamination of the gloves and catheter. As an alternative, devices have been proposed for the purpose of accomplishing lubrication and placement, but are unduly complex in structure and difficult in use.